International AIDS conference begins in Brazil
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-25 14:11

The third International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment opened here Sunday, gathering over 5,000 specialists, doctors, and representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGO) from 125 countries.

The four-day event is jointly sponsored by the International AIDS Society, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil's Institute of Contagious Diseases.

During the meeting, specialists will communicate and discuss developments in recent years on AIDS research, prevention and therapies, as well as new methods for the application of these scientific results for developing countries' control and prevention against the spread of the disease.

At the conference, scientists are expected to present a total of 2,060 papers on the latest developments in fighting the disease drawn from research in 114 different countries.

According to handouts from the conference, experts estimate that about 40 million people worldwide have been infected with AIDS, and every day another 14,000 people get infected with the disease, 95 percent of whom are from medium or low-income countries.

As of June 2005, some 6.5 million AIDS patients need to be treated, but only 1 million of them have access to treatments.

The International AIDS Society, an academic community of the world's AIDS researcher and specialists, has some 6,000 members from 130 countries.

Besides the biannual Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment, the society also sponsors another biannual event -- the International AIDS Conference -- which gathers government leaders as well as experts from the scientific community.